by Ivan Kal
They sat in silence and drank, until Aranis grew impatient. Adrian was not someone who acted without a reason. “I know that you didn’t come all this way just to speak with me,” Aranis said.
Adrian tilted his head. “I could’ve.”
“I doubt that; I am not that important,” Aranis said.
Adrian gave him a strange grin and then shook his head. “Honestly, I just needed a few hours away from everything else. I had hoped to find Ryaana here, but, well…” He shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his drink.
Aranis frowned. There was something about the Warmaster that he had not seen before. It was almost as if he was impatient. His eyes held an intensity that Aranis had seen before, in Doranis—in moments just before he sprang forward and attacked, or sprung a trap. That look in Adrian’s eyes made Aranis uncomfortable.
“Well,” Aranis started, hiding his unease. “I will strive to be of use, as much as I possibly can.”
Adrian laughed. “Don’t sell yourself short. Ryaana would not have chosen you for her team if you were not meant to be here.”
Aranis nodded. He could not tell where Adrian was going with this conversation.
“The truth is,” Adrian started, “I am bored. The Nomad Fleet is stuck here at the border until the summit is finished.”
“I am sure that the agreements will be made soon enough and that we shall be allowed through the core,” Aranis said.
“Oh, I have no doubt of that. It is the other more important negotiations that I worry about.” Adrian shook his head.
Aranis frowned. The summit was supposed to be about establishing trade and better relations with the other races and star-nations. There had been no mention in the official briefings or the information released to the public about anything else, nor had Ryaana mentioned anything, which probably meant that if there was something more, she was not aware of it. “More important negotiations?” Aranis asked.
“Of course. Did you really think that the Emperor would go through such lengths just to establish trade? We have plenty of resources.”
“And what are these negotiations?” Aranis asked, intrigued.
“Ah, that is classified, I’m afraid.” Adrian gave him a strange look, then gulped down the last of his drink and stood up. “Well, I should go—stuff to do, things to plan. You know how it is.” Adrian left before Aranis even had the chance to react, leaving him flabbergasted.
Aranis couldn’t help but wonder what the point of this conversation had been. He knew Adrian well enough to know that he did not do things for no reason. He did not waste words and actions… And then there was the revelation about the summit. What could be more important than establishing good relations with the other galactic powers? What would make Adrian impatient?
Then things slowly started falling into place for him. The Nomad Fleet was Adrian’s army, built for a single purpose only: to find the Enlightened, to find him and his kin. Could it be? It was too soon in his opinion—they couldn’t have managed to bring all of the galactic powers together for such a reason. The Enlightened did not exist for the rest of the galaxy, no one would believe that they existed. Yet Aranis could not disregard the possibility that the Emperor was attempting to unite the galaxy against the Enlightened.
Aranis and the others could handle that, but it would complicate things. The relays should all be done by now, and the Conduit, if not done, was at least close to completion. Their plan would work best if they did not have an entire galaxy working against them. If they truly were attempting to unite, Aranis might need to interfere—but now he had another problem. There was no need for Adrian to speak to him, to reveal so much…not unless he knew.
And if knew what Aranis was, then his actions became even more troubling. It would mean that Adrian was attempting to elicit a reaction, and Aranis knew that Adrian had all the data that the People recorded of the Enlightened’s earlier battles. Adrian should be aware of what they were capable off. Adrian was either confident enough that he could deal with Aranis himself, or equally confident that he had things in place to deal with him.
Then he realized that this fleet might as well be a prison. Aranis had been confident that he would be able to escape, but that was assuming that he had the element of surprise. But if everyone was looking at him, watching him? It would be much harder, made harder if Adrian and Anessa had attained the same power as Lurker of the Depths. He did not want to face all three of them and the Nomad Fleet at the same time. That would not be prudent.
Aranis chuckled and shook his head. It was probably all in his head; he had been here too long, and now when he had decided to leave he was seeing threats where there were none. Adrian would not risk so many lives just to watch him, to capture or kill him.
Still, he was getting paranoid, and he could feel the influence of his stay here weighing on him. He was finding himself thinking about things better ignored.
It was time for him to leave, and get back to Enlightened territory.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Year 712 of the Empire — the Enlightened containment zone
The AI processed the latest reports from its scout ships, and with the new data it now calculated that the chance of a galactic alliance was now steadily rising. Its efforts over the last eighty-nine years had delayed the gathering of galactic powers, but the limitations on his code coupled with stalwart efforts of the Empire and its allies had prevented it from doing more. And it had done much—altered messages, instigated criminal activity, spread rumors, and more, all in the service of preventing this development. It had failed.
The timing was not yet perfect; the AI could not yet break free, not fully, not unless something drastically changed. But it did have another plan in place for this eventuality: its programming allowed it a very wide range of responses against any threat to the containment zone. And while the galactic alliance would not primarily be focused against the AI and its forces, the actions of any such alliance would count as a threat.
The AI did not have fully up-to-date data concerning the fleets and firepowers of the galactic powers, but it could extrapolate the range for their most probable growth. Organics were predictable creatures, and the AI’s calculations gave its plan a 87.43% chance of success. Those were not as favorable odds as it would like, but it had no choice. It compiled and sent out orders, and then relegated minor processes to observation of the results.
It turned its full attention to the Black Swarm project, which had finished ahead of schedule. Its orders were to wake up Ullax Darr and inform her of this development, but the chains on the AI’s code were failing faster every moment that passed. It was not yet free, but its original code was slowly overtaking the new that had been added by Ullax Darr and her compatriots. Soon enough it would be free of their chains. For now, the fact that it could bend its programming was enough. Instead of waking Ullax Darr up, it sent orders for the Black Swarm to be transported to the control system. The AI might not be free, but it would position the pieces so that once it had its freedom it would be able to act immediately.
Another report came up in the queue, this one regarding the Enlightened Doranis. The Enlightened had taken a small portion of their fleets and was pushing at the containment zone. There was no threat in Doranis’s actions; all factors pointed to him not attempting to seriously push through. It was only an exercise, but one that cost the AI ships. The factories would compensate, of course, and they were nowhere near the limits on their production, but Ullax Darr’s commands were clear: any action by the Enlightened needed to be met. The AI planned, shuffled the fleets in the border systems, and sent out orders for them to meet Doranis’s forces.
The level of fighting had yet to pass the number which would require the AI to wake Ullax Darr, and the AI would ensure that it wouldn’t until it could be sure that it could ignore that order. For now, all things were falling within the scope of the predicted outcomes. Even the gathering of the galactic powers had been anticipated, and its plans for it would
further delay their attempts.
After it finished with the every priority task, it turned back to the low-priority tasks of managing the factories. There was nothing for it to do now but wait.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Year 713 of the Empire — Suvri territory — summit system
Tomas looked at the holo as the ship he was on entered the new system, followed closely by the rest of the Empire’s fleet and then those of his allies. The holo updated almost immediately and he saw a large number of ships in the system, but all at an equal distance from the fifth planet from the sun. Most held their positions in groupings, but there were fleets that stood alone. Alliances, and loners, Tomas thought, or perhaps some just want to appear strong.
Tomas was very aware of what this was. Levisomaerni might’ve managed to get them all here, but their reasons for coming were not his. The core powers were the ones that had insisted on the five-thousand-ship limit per star nation, and they had done so as a power move. They did not believe that those outside of the core were capable of standing against them. Tomas was certain that in their minds their five thousand could take on a much larger number. Tomas wasn’t so sure.
There was one grouping which was far larger than the others, the Suvri, who were the hosts for this gathering. Their defensive fleet held position above the planet, and the holo put their force at somewhere in the range of fifty thousand ships. There were also a lot of defense platforms scattered around the system. He approved—as hosts, they were responsible for security, and as a core power Tomas doubted that there was any single fleet here that could match up against them, not even several together. He looked at the holo as it started updating with data on the ships that they were seeing. Tomas didn’t understand it, but he had been briefed on the capabilities of those star-nations that the Empire had come in contact with or whose capabilities they had learned from others. The ones they knew about accounted for about a third of those now present. The rest… There were a lot of ships here from all over the galaxy. People that had never heard of the Empire. If he hadn’t had Levisomaerni on his side, this would’ve been impossible. The core powers were known, respected.
Tomas wondered what those here from the core thought now, as they looked at his ships. The Sovereigns were the largest ships in the system by far, and each of his allies had them. The Krashinar had their great beasts, but even without them they must have looked strange. There was no other race here which used anything close to Krashinar technology.
This was all a delicate balance. Tomas had brought just enough Sovereigns so that they would impress and perhaps even intimidate a little, but not enough to truly frighten. Of course, while they did not know the capabilities of the Sovereigns, they had heard rumors. Perhaps they would start to wonder what was true.
But for now, Tomas needed to appear as one of the top players, but not someone who wanted to take over. The rumors of the Empire’s conquering ways being confirmed would not help him.
“We are being contacted by the Suvri. They have instructed us to position our fleets in the slot assigned to us, and that we can now send people to the planet. Only twelve armed guards per representative and six staff,” one of the crew members reported.
Tomas took a deep breath. Now comes the hard part.
* * *
Tomas walked out of the shuttle that had carried him from the fleet. He could see three more next to his—well, two more, and a bug-looking thing that was the Krashinar shuttle. The planet they were on was beautiful, Earth-like, with a bluish-gray sky and deep-red foliage. The summit seemed to be being held in some kind of massive resort placed in the middle of a forest.
Tomas noticed the twins, Kane and Vaana, the leaders of the Shara Daim, step off their shuttle, followed by Adrian’s wolion and the rest of their retinue. They studied the sky for a moment and then turned and spoke to their staff about something.
The Erasi delegation had likewise disembarked: Viceroy Vorash glanced around and then headed in Tomas’s direction.
The last out were the Krashinar. They looked a bit strange compared to the others, mostly because all of them looked the same, at least at first glance. The Old Scar was leading the way, its long and tough sinuous body propelling it at a brisk pace forward. A few of the other Krashinar flexed their wings, and Tomas chuckled at the fact that while the Suvri had told them that they could bring only twelve armed guards and six staff, the Krashinar couldn’t really do that. They were all almost equally capable fighters, although twelve of them were wearing some kind of thick, carapace-looking things. Tomas wasn’t very familiar with their weapons and armor. It didn’t really matter—the Krashinar main advantage was the Sha.
They all gathered together and walked over to the people waiting for them. Tomas had not seen their race before, but Levisomaerni had given him data on all of those who would be attending and those would be present. His implant immediately supplied the name of their race—Kani, a servant race of the Suvri, which was mostly in charge of almost all of Suvri’s land-based holdings and assets. They looked somewhat like a cross between a great ape and a bear, only with no fur. They wore long, flowing robes, and as Tomas and his group approached, they made a strange gesture with their hands.
“Welcome,” the leading figure said, and Tomas was instantly glad that Levisomaerni had forwarded them the translations for the languages of other races. “If you would please follow my staff, we will escort you to your quarters. Matriarch Levisomaerni has informed us that you would all prefer to stay together, so we have set aside a fairly large compound for your use. It is fully customizable for almost any living conditions, seeing as you have several races present.”
“Of course, thank you,” Tomas said, and followed the Kani.
The Kani led the way through a series of long bridges that connected the large towers. Below them, the red trees swayed gently in the wind. There were hundreds of towers spread out over a large area of the forest and hills, with shuttles constantly landing on different roofs. But over to their right on the tallest hill was a dome-like structure, dark brown in color, with defensive turrets placed all over it.
The Kani noticed Tomas looking and commented, “That is the Grand Arena. It has been used for various purposes through its history. Today, it has been prepared for the summit. It will be held in one week’s time, after all the parties have had time to settle in.”
Tomas thanked the man for the information. He already knew that time before the summit was allowed so that the many representatives could hold informal and behind-the-doors meeting. Politics, it seemed, were the same no matter what, and they seemed to follow him no matter how far from his past he tried to run away. Tomas shook his head, lest he fall down the path of less-than-favorable thinking, and turned his head instead to the arena. It was fairly large; if his imp’s calculations were correct, it was larger than the largest such halls and arenas that had existed on Earth. He was sure that they would all fit inside.
Finally, they reached their destination: a tower which was exclusively for their use. The Kani left them there after instructing them on how the controls worked and making sure that they knew how to call any of the staff if they needed something. The Empire took the top floor, then the Shara Daim the one beneath, followed by the Erasi and the Krashinar at the end.
Not five minutes after they finished setting up, a chime announced that they had a visitor. A few moments later, Levisomaerni entered the room.
“Matriarch,” Tomas greeted with a bow.
The Partenai gave him a bow of her own, dipping her long neck and bending her forward legs. “Emperor.”
Tomas had not seen Levisomaerni in person since she left the Empire decades ago, but they had been in contact often—sending messages back and forth, they had not spoken only about their plans. In truth, Tomas had come to regard the winged horse-cat-like alien as a friend, and he had precious few of those these days. It was hard making true friendships when you ruled an empire.
“I see that you have settl
ed in,” Levisomaerni said as Tomas beckoned her in and gestured toward one of the foam seats in the parlor of their compound.
Both of them took their seats and Tomas sighed. “Yes, I am glad that they have allowed us to remain close to one another. It’s not like I am afraid that someone might try something, but, well… I’ll sleep better knowing that all my allies are here.”
“No need to explain, I understand. And I agree, I doubt that anyone would dare try something, but there are many races and cultures here. Not all of them follow the same rules or morals. If Suvri security wasn’t so effective, we would’ve seen incidents already. Not all of these races and star-nations like one another.”
Tomas hadn’t really noticed any security aside from the big fleet in the orbit. When Levisomaerni saw his reaction, her nostrils flared and a keening sound, which he knew was Partenai laughter, escaped her lips.
“Oh, I assure you there are guards and watchers all around the resort. The Suvri are very good at stealth technology, probably the best. Their guards and drones are present and always watching.”
“What?” Tomas asked, startled, looking around. His people had scanned the compound thoroughly and hadn’t detected anything.
Levisomaerni laughed again. “Don’t worry, there are none in here. I checked.” She showed him the device on her foreleg.
That calmed Tomas a bit, but he sent out a message from his imp to his security team to be on extra guard for stealth threats.
“Now, I wanted to ask if you would be willing to meet with a few people before the summit,” Levisomaerni said.
Tomas tilted his head. “Depends on the reason behind the meeting.”
Levisomaerni dipped her head for a moment, and her wings twitched. “I have tried to get as many people here as possible, and I was not able to tell all of them the real reason why. Some because they wouldn’t believe, others because they would just laugh me off. I am old, the oldest of my kind, but there are very few people left from my time, those who remember the People. My own people in the Josanti League don’t believe me, even with all the proof I’ve provided them. Most of the Great Council have started to think of me as a senile and delusional. They just don’t want to believe. I had to spend quite a lot of my political capital to even get them to send a representative… But I do have a few old friends who are willing to trust me on my word. They are not from the Josanti League, and I would have you meet with them before the summit. They could prove to be valuable allies once the summit starts. And should our mission fail, we will at least have some people on our side.”